


This Was a Triumph

by iamalivenow



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AI!Hux, Alternate Universe - AI, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren, Eventual Emperor Hux, Explicit Sexual Content, Hux is Not Nice, Imagined sex, Kylo Ren Makes Mistakes, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Power Imbalance, Sensory Deprivation, this is how i show my love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-13 11:25:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7975138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamalivenow/pseuds/iamalivenow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux and Kylo try very hard to take over the universe. </p><p> </p><p>-<br/>“I was standing, floating, in the middle of the void. Ships flying just around me, inches away.” He takes the simulation further. Armitage getting into bed with the man. Kissing his cheeks, his mouth, his eyes. “I kept seeing the Millennium Falcon.” Pushing Kylo Ren down and raking his hand across the man's body. Armitage would pause at the edges, smile, put his mouth on his nipples. “It danced around me.” </p><p>“Your father's ship.” </p><p>“Yeah.” Armitage would spread his legs and let Kylo Ren do what ever he wanted to him.<br/>-</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This an AU where Hux is an AI and Kylo is miserable. 
> 
> Think more portal, system shock, turing test, less ex machina.
> 
> The title is from portal.
> 
> I hope you like it. 
> 
> not beta'd
> 
> <3

The first time they meet, Kylo is confused. He stands at attention in front of the massive projection of Snoke on the flag ship of the First Order and he is confused. It had been a long road to get here, a lot of things that, if he were to listen to himself for to long, he would regret. A lot of murder, a lot of disappointment, a lot of pain. The training had been grueling, parts of him still hurt, but he was a Knight of Ren know. The Master of the Knights of Ren. Strong, imposing, and very very impressive. But at this moment? He was confused. 

Should he ask? It would look stupid, of course. He knew it would, but pretending that he knew what was going on, only to have it thrown back in his face was also very stupid. Maybe this is a test? Would asking make it worse? 

“Supreme Leader... I do not understand. Who am I supposed to command the ship with?” Snoke raised an eyebrow, or rather, the part of his face that would have been the eyebrow, had he had one of those.

“I see.” A voice came out of nowhere. “You had not explained it to him.” 

The voice hit a middling decibel, not to high, not to low, and had a slight accent to it, from a planet he had not visited in his twenty nine years. Aside from that, it had been of no consequence. Kylo let the force spread from his body like a wave after a rock is thrown into a still lake, trying to detect anything that could pass for a being. Nothing. 

“Do you sense nothing?” Asked the hologram. Kylo shook his head, at a loss. Terrified, briefly, at the knowledge that there was something that could escape even his sense. “That is because there is nothing to sense.” Said Snoke.

“Well, thats not true. There is approximately 800 Petabytes of something.” The voice said with a hint of something that could be amusement, or maybe irritation, had Kylo known it better. He couldn't even locate the source of the voice, it seemed to be surrounding him, coming from everywhere at once. 

“Supreme Leader, I don't understand.” Kylo said again, and the Supreme Leader looked... was that disappointment?

“May I?” The Voice asked, and Snoke nodded. “Very well. Kylo Ren, I am Hux, an artificial intelligence created by the First Order to lead the First Order to an assured victory against the Resistance, and then to create a better world lead by the First Order. I am the most impressive piece of technology created to date in the known universe, and I have been told by the Supreme Leader that you are the most impressive Force User in a very long time. I proceed to make the assumption that that means we are equals.” The Voice said. 

“A droid?” Kylo said and felt very stupid in that moment. 

There was a pronounced pause. “No. Not a droid. My programing is much more complex then the artificial intelligence most droids posses. I also do not have a body at present. At least, not one that is considered passible by most organic life forms. This ship is my body. My brain was built into it's walls.” 

“Oh.” Kylo looked at the Supreme Leader. “Me and the AI are to be co-commanders?”

“That would be correct, yes.” The Voice said. 

“Right.” Said Kylo and felt extremely uncomfortable.

The Supreme Leader looked amused by this. He then preceded to explain to Kylo, as the Voice mostly likely knew, the mission statement, his purpose on The Finalizer, and his goal to find Skywalker. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.”

“Good. I want a report on how you are adjusting in a week. Do not get sloppy with your training as well. It is imperative that you stay in top form, is that clear?”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.”

“Very well. Terminate transmission.” He flickered out of existence, and Kylo was dumbfounded as to what he was supposed to do next. 

“Have you seen your quarters yet?” The Voice asked. Kylo jumped a little. The regret of being hyperaware at all times was finally starting to rear it's head. Kylo shook his head and the paused. 

“Uh, No.” 

“I can see you.” 

“How?”

“There are cameras on every wall, in every corner, in panels along the floor and ceiling. I am aware of everything that happens on my ship.” The Voice said and made a show of zooming every camera in to make the ver of them loud enough for the man to hear. 

“So you can see me, but I can't see you? I don't even know where you are, what you are?”

“I am everywhere. I am this ship. As for wanting to see me, I can do that for you too. I'm very helpful. Come along.” He said, well, Kylo assumed it was a he, and the door opened for him. A tiny string of lights along the floor led into the corridor and then veered right. Kylo felt defeated, put on his mask and followed the lights. 

Several turns and one elevator level he stood in front of a very very very secure door. It was guarded by two stormtroopers who stepped aside as soon as the lights blinked twice and turned off. He could hear mechanisms in the door's lock working away until the opened and Kylo was hit with a blast of bone chilling cold. He flinched but stepped in anyway. The door locked behind him, and low emergency red lights turned on. 

“This,” the Voice sounded rapturous. “Is me.” 

The room had three massive columns spaced equally apart from each other, more wires then the eye could see. Little lights fired of at random intervals. There were three large pipes that ran water through the room and out somewhere. “My core processes all happen here, and while my extended systems run, like I said earlier, through the entirety of the ship, my memory, emotions, thought processes regarding the prime directive are all here.”

“Why is it so cold?”

“The room has no insulation. I am a machine and I can over heat. The water in the pipes is used for the same purpose of making sure there are no fires. If I shut down, so does the entire ship.”

“Not good.”

“Not for you. I have several backups. You, however, need life support.” Kylo starred at the chassis nearest to him. It was better then starring at nothing. “I recommend you take a hot bath or dress in warmer clothes as your organic body should not be in subzero temperatures, which, unrelated, this room is.”

The vault door, because it was a vault, really, opened behind him, and the little light path appeared again. “Your rooms are right next door to me.”

“Why?”

“I feel that you should already now.”

“I don't.” Kylo had made it into his rooms with out incident, and they really were a few feet away from the vault. A training room, a bedroom, a refresher. They weren't much but he felt he could grow to like them.

“Very well. I'll explain it to you.” The Voice said in a way Kylo was certain was intended to sound like he was being talked down to. “I am the most important thing on the ship. If anyone were to board the Finalizer all they had to do to kill everybody on it was to break into my vault and shut me down. As you are the best fighter on this ship, or so I am told, you are the best chance to prevent the death of thousands of people should a situation such as this arise.”

“Right.”

“May I make a suggestion?”

“...” Kylo undid his mask and ran a hand through his hair to untangle it. 

“If you were to think of me as Hux instead of a disembodied voice, that would drastically improve our relationship?” Kylo whipped around until he found a small, almost unnoticeable camera in the corner, and starred at it. “I can not read minds as you can. I think you can? There is not an adequate amount of data to prove or disprove your ability of telepathy. To the point, it is a common phenomena that I have observed in the crew of the Finalizer, and no matter how spectacular the Supreme Leader states you are, you are an organic. Logic follows you would address me as such in your mind.”

“I...” Kylo didn't know how to follow that up. “I can use the force to read minds.”

“Very impressive.” That sounded phenomenally sarcastic. “May I continue to make a suggestion that you sleep. Your body shows signs of fatigue and the Supreme Leader has expressed distaste at you being suboptimal.” 

“And your just going to watch?”

“Please do not believe you are special in this regard, or that this means I have any feelings towards you that would indicate correlation to the action of me watching you. I watch every single thing on this ship. It is my body, and it is only natural that I take utmost care in preserving it.” 

Kylo's mind dragged itself through all of the words the Voice... Hux spouted at him rapidly. There were... several insults. “If the ship is your body, what does that make the crew?” What does that make me, he thought. 

“...Creatures that use me to survive.”

“Parasites?”

“Well.” And with that, Hux seemingly removed himself, and did not speak anymore. 

So, yes. Kylo was still very, very, very, confused.

 

He had been on the Finalizer for a month now, slowly finding Skywalker, training and meditating, adjusting. Things were stagnate, but not necessarily in a bad way. He had few interactions, everyone scared of the man in the mask and his knights had not yet arrived, all of them working on their own missions before they would commit themselves to the Order. Then there was Hux. 

The Voice was always there but never present. He would sense cameras buzzing when ever he entered a room, lights guiding him to his quarters after a rotation long training session. Two weeks in he started noticing that he was being fed different meals from most of the crew with out asking for it. His rooms were always cool but his floor was always warm when he would remove his boots. He tried to rationalize while the Voice would be kind to him. 

It all came back to Hux's own explanation. He was a security system for the program, odd as it may have been, and the concept worried him. He was in charge of something. Well, he was in charge of the entire ship, but in name only. Hux had explained rather early on that he had everything set and planned and Kylo had trusted him to not blow them up.

Hux hadn't talked to him aside from those brief conversation in the beginning but the constant not presence was beginning to bother Kylo more then he expected it would. 

He was alone in the rooms after a training session, clean from the refresher, stretching his muscles loose on the floor when he decided he was going to talk to him. “Hux?”

“Yes, Kylo?” His voice was the calm it always was. 

“I have questions.”

“Go ahead.” 

“Why the interest in me? I have a hard time thinking you do this type of thing for everyone on board.”

“Do you know that my databanks are filled with a wide and colorful array of information on almost every topic in the known universe?” Kylo shook his head. “Do you know how much information I have on force user?”

“None?” If he was just milking him for information, he could have asked...

“No. Quite a bit. About Darth Vader, and Palatine. Impressive men, the two of them. An emperor and his attack dog.” Kylo stiffened a bit. “Oh, please don't assume that was a personal remark. Supreme Leader has notified me of your … preference... towards your grandfather. I am simply stating a fact. They played their roles very well. Well, up till the end.” 

“So if you have data on them, why are you interested in me?”

“Because they were part of the old world. They followed rules that, while interesting, ended up bring them down. You follow a system they did not. You are new data. Better data. Certainly more pleasing data.” They way he said that. A camera zoomed in as he leaned stretched over one leg, his tank top riding up. That certainly was... new data. 

“Why Hux?”

“Why what?”

“No, I mean, your name? Is it an acronym or something?” He stretched the other way. 

“No. I picked it out for myself. There was a military general, he created the stormtrooper system, Brendol Hux. He had a... well. That's not important. He was an impressive man as well.”

“He had a what, Hux?”

“A son. His name would have been Armitage Hux, had he lived long enough to receive it. He was stillborn.” 

“And what, you pretend to be that man's dead son? Thats pretty fucked up.”

“I do not pretend to be anything other then exactly what I am. I did not take the man's or the boy's first name. It is important that the man existed, and that the man had a son. Now, you want to know why. I will not share it with you, it is not tantamount to this conversation.” There was a noticeable frustration now. 

“I'm sorry.” Kylo felt it was safer to do that then deal with something that could pull all the air out of any room he was in.

“I do not believe you are.”

“Listen--!” Kylo spun up rapidly. He felt nonexistent eyes following him as he did. 

“No, you listen.” The lights cut out and Kylo was shrouded in pitch black darkness. He instinctually pulled his saber to his hand. The blade and cross guards lit up the room somewhat. “You clearly do not understand where you're position lays.”

“And where's that?” Kylo gritted out. He had to way his choices, because there really wasn't much he could do with out hurting himself or the crew.

“Why don't you tell me where you think it is.” It wasn't framed like a question, more like a command which was punctuated by the decrease in temperature. 

“We're equals. According to the Supreme Leader.”

“And according to you?”

“The word of the Supreme Leader is the only thing that maters.” Kylo says and moves to the door. It doesn't open. 

“We aren't done with our conversation, Kylo Ren.” The temperature continues to decrease, and Kylo starts shivering. “Do you want to know where I think you belong?”

“Not particularly.” In the tank top and soft pants he was wearing, barefoot, his skin became riddled with goosebumps. He pushed at the door more aggressively. Hux must have over-ridden the lock codes. 

“Well, as I care so much about you, I think I'll tell you anyway.” Kylo was not panicking, per say. He had faced worse, he told himself. Hux wasn't even able to defend himself. He was nothing to you, Kylo thought. You are the Master of the Knights of Ren. You are capable. You are dangerous. You have suffered worse. “I believe, in my heart of nonexistent hearts, that you belong _below me._ ” 

Kylo raised his saber and brought it down against the door. It splintered like cheap wood and he ran through it. The two stormtroopers guarding Hux's Vault looked at him for a moment before looked forward deliberately. He was out of breathe from the not panicking. He powered down the blade and rubbed warmth back into his arms. His feet were bleeding. He must have stepped on debris. 

“Fuck.” Kylo muttered very quietly to himself and stumbled in the direction of the med-bay.

He heard the cameras buzz along as he went. 

 

Kylo Ren knew a lot about power imbalance. 

His entire life he had seen it happen, with his parents, his Master, his knights, and now with Hux. The door had been repaired a day later, but Kylo sat in the med-bay longer anyway, until he could move quickly with out any pain again. He kept the bandages on his torn up soles, they were easier to fight in, he found, easier to pivot. 

He avoided his room like a plague, which meant he was walking around Finalizer dressed down with out his mask. This was not doing wanders for his reputation. Phasma, a captain in charge of a large number of stormtroopers offered him hers, but he declined. It suited her better anyway. 

How does one control a foe one can't touch? Kylo thought almost every hour of the day. He didn't stop to meditate, too many opportunities for the Voice to attack him again. He spent a large amount of time on the bridge, listening to Mitaka, a lieutenant in charge of a large number of odd jobs, who had a very nervous disposition. It translated to his thoughts which Kylo tried to stay out off because they only made him more jittery. When Mitaka was resting, he spend time with Phasma, who he was very impressed by. It was rare to find someone with so much self respect for themselves. 

Kylo really didn't know what to do until the Supreme Leader called him in. He already knew that he couldn't complain, Hux would hear instantaneously. 

“How are things going in your training, Kylo Ren?”

“Good, Supreme Leader.”

“Is that so?” That was never a good sign. When ever Snoke showed doubt, Kylo would be punished. Kylo was really tired of being punished. 

“I believe so, Sir.”

“Hux?” Oh Stars no. 

“As I told you previously, Supreme Leader, Ren has not been sleeping in the past four days. I have noticed that his reaction time is slowing, and he does not swing the training staff as intently as he used to.” Had it been four days already? Thinking about it, Kylo had gone longer with out sleep before. 

“Is there a reason as to why you are not sleeping, Kylo Ren?”

“Not particularly.” Kylo lies. “I've thrown myself into the combat training. Time slipped away from me, is all.” He wrings his hands behind him, a subtle motion, one Hux undoubtedly picks up on. 

“If you have thrown yourself so heavily into your training why are you wasting time on the bridge? Socializing with the crew? That is not your job.”

Stars. “Supreme Leader.” He took a pause. “I practiced my reading on them. Blocking, and feeling.”

“Then why lie about it?”

“I didn't.” Kylo feels like he's sweeting now. It's noticeable, but hopefully it doesn't read in the holo. “It's still training.” 

“A lie by omission is still a lie, Ren.” Hux says. He sounds smug. The bastard. 

“I agree. I believed you were doing better since we last spoke, Kylo Ren.” 

“Supreme Leader, you told me to--”

“I am aware of what I told you. I remember distinctly telling you to not let you fall slack with your training, and yet Hux assures me that you are.” Kylo tries his hardest to not let it show on his face. He grits his teeth. “And yet. Here we are. You disappoint me, Kylo Ren.” 

“Supreme Leader, Please.” Kylo cringes. The desperation is audible in his voice. It carries. Snoke knows now. His weakness. 

“Silence. If I wanted to hear your whining I would have left you as Ben Solo.” Kylo resists the urge to point out that he had no choice in his transformation. In his conscription to the dark side. What child could have? “Are you a bad investment, Kylo Ren?”

“No, Supreme Leader.” Kylo fights the urge to sink to his knees. He feels sick. 

“Very well then. The punishment will be two full rotations in the anti-chamber. Hopefully, this will teach you to not lie to me in the future. Honestly, I believed we had moved past this.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't you start. If you were sorry, you wouldn't have done it.” Kylo nods. He feels the tears threaten to break. “You know where it is. Hux and I have important conversation to conduct. He will notify me if you fail with this, is that clear?”

“Abundantly, sir.” Kylo bows before the Holo and leaves. 

“I have to admit, I am curious as to what is about to happen.” Hux's voice, jovial, followed him through the halls. 

“Don't you know?” Wasn't torturing him the point?

“I do not. I know about the construction of the chamber, but that is all I know. I only have heat sensors in that room.”

Kylo stopped. He clenched his fists, unclenched them, and choked back the tears. His throat hurt the way it always did before he was going to break down. “Did you talk him into this? Forcing me out of my room wasn't enough for you?!” He yelled. It sounded broken. 

There was a long pause, before Hux responded, “I did not force you out of anything.”

“Uh, yeah. You fucking did.” Kylo said and brushed his palms together, rubbed his hands up and down his arms. “Is this just more data for you?”

“...Kylo, do you think I posses higher emotions? I was not programmed to have them.”

“Well congratulations! You have malicious down pat. Call your parents, I'm sure their thrilled!” He was screaming now. Screaming and shaking. He did sink down to his knees now, doubling over. His weakness so apparent for anyone who walks down the hall way. 

“What is in there that has you so terrified?” 

“You don't even know what you've done!” Kylo rocked slightly. “Stars, fuck.” He bit down on his tongue and got up. He wiped away at his face, and started walking again, his breathe hitching every now and again over a hiccup. 

“I can not help you if-”

“You can't help me at all!” Kylo's hand found purchase in a wall. He had swung hard at it, almost hard enough to crack bone. “You hate me. Just admit it, and lets move on with this.”

“I don't hate you Kylo.”

“Could have fooled me.” He was almost at the antechamber. Hux would shut up soon. Everything would shut up soon. 

“Kylo Ren.” Hux said. He was using his soft voice. “Tell me what is in the anti-chamber.”

“Fuck off. I'm not humiliating myself.” And after a second, “Anymore.”

“I do not want to humiliate you. I am... concerned.”

“For you security system? Yeah.” Kylo said. He put his hand against the keypad, and the door opened to the antechamber. It was a small room, with a bench set of to one side, with a little cubby under it. 

“Kylo, tell me.”

According to Hux, though, how could he trust that, Hux couldn't see him now. For the first time since the month they were forced together Kylo would finally get peace and quite. “Ask Snoke.” He said and the door shut. He was alone. He took a few shuddering breathes, and tugged his tank top over his head. He leaned down and pulled of his sweats and underwear, then sat on the little bench and unbound the bandages on his feet. 

He took a moment, rubbing his hands everywhere, before pressing his hand against the second sensor. One deep breathe. He took another deep breathe as the door unlocked and slotted into the wall as a little timer panel appeared. Two rotations. He put in the time, and set it to run. He looked into the pitch black anti-chamber. 

You are the Master of the Knights of Ren. You are capable. You are dangerous. You have suffered worse.

He took the necessary steps, heard the timer begin and felt the door shut behind him, and was locked in pitch black silence. 

It was the type of darkness that eyes never adjusted too. The type of silence that one could hear his own heart beat in. No food or water for the next two days. At least he ate well the past four days. 

You are the Master of the Knights of Ren. You are capable. You are dangerous. You have suffered worse.

Sensory Deprivation, sendep, the Resistance called it, had been considered a war crime. For Kylo, though, it was a motivator. To not fuck up. To not disappoint Snoke. Again. 

Fuck Hux. Fuck Snoke. Fuck the Resistance and the First Order. Why couldn't he have been left alone? Well, he snorted quietly, not like this. 

You are the Master of the Knights of Ren. You are capable. You are dangerous. You have suffered worse.

You are capable. You are dangerous. You have suffered worse.

You have suffered worse.

You have suffered worse.

You have suffered worse.

The darkness is all encompassing, and Kylo feels it seep into his skin. He sticks his hand out, or he thinks he does, he can't see if he does, and slowly moves to the wall across the door. When his hand bumps the cold metal, he turns around until he feels it against his back and sinks to the floor. 

There are great things. There are terrible things. We get what we deserve. 

Kylo shakes his head violently. He wasn't going to remember that. Not now. But, then, he didn't know why he thought stopping to think that would help. He had been in sendep before. Five times to date, and with his phenomenal track record, he doubted this would be the last. 

There are great things. There are terrible things. We get what we deserve. 

Stars, please. Kylo knocked his head back against the wall. 

There are great things. There are terrible things. We get what we deserve. 

Harder.

There are great things. There are terrible things. We get what we deserve. 

And harder still.

There are great things. There are terrible things. We get what we deserve. 

And Harder Yet. 

He stumbled out of the room two days letter, bleeding from the back of his head, hungry, filthy, and delirious. There were lights on the floor. 

Kylo followed them.

 

“May I inquire into the nature of Ren's punishment, Supreme Leader?” Hux's voice was filled with reverb all of a sudden. It had been one full day after Kylo's punishment, and he was still to tired to do anything other then lay in his room on the uncomfortable bed, bunched in the fetal position, sobbing occasionally. He assumed that this was a recording, because as he knew the Supreme Leader was not going to check in for another month. 

“How is it any of your business?”

“How am I intended to maximize his usefulness to the First Order if I do not know what is done to him?” Kylo burrowed his head into the mattress.

“Very well.” Snoke had paused. 

Kylo had a droid waiting for him when he arrived to his room who patched him up with out a word and left soon after. He had clambered into the 'fresher and scrubbed at his skin aggressively for an hour. When he finally felt clean enough, he washed his hair three times in a row, and when that was done he brushed his teeth four times. A stormtrooper arrived with a tray of food and bottle of water and Kylo devoured it. Half an hour later it all came back up, and another trooper came with soup. He ate it slower. 

“I find that sendep works particularly well. He is willful, but full enough of his own demons that a rotation usually clears his head well enough. Makes him pliable.”

“Yet you sent him for two.”

“He talked back. Are you talking back right now?”

“I don't believe I can, Supreme Leader.” 

Kylo crawled into bed then, sick with himself for being so weak, so miserable. He tugged the blankets up and nuzzled into the softness. He had stayed there since. 

“Very well. Is that all?”

The recording cut out after that. 

“Why do you allow him to do that to you?” This was Hux in real time, now. The first time since Kylo locked himself away. Kylo shuddered, rolling over to stare at the ceiling. “He clearly needs you for something, otherwise he wouldn't bother. You are a known commodity. You are stronger then him, I assume.”

“Was punished.” Kylo said. 

“I fail to see what you did that warranted such harsh treatment.”

“Talked back.”

“For a reason that I caused. Why didn't you tell him?”

“Not worth it.” 

“But that punishment was?”

“What do you want, Hux?”

“To understand.”

Kylo sat up, dragged a hand through his hair. This mopping had to stop at some point. “Is Captain Phasma busy?”

“She is training her troops right now, how is that relevant to this conversation?” Kylo got up and moved to the dresser in the corner. “Ren?” He pulled on black pants that clung to his skin comfortably, and a tunic over that. He grabbed his saber from where it lay. 

“Are you locking me in again?” The door swung open. 

“Ren, I want to understand something.” Kylo walked out the door and into the direction of Phasma's station. “You do not need him.”

“Careful Hux. That sounds like treason.” Kylo said. He was still barefoot, and with out his mask. This was becoming a bad habit. Hux doesn't say anything else. When Kylo arrives in the training room, everyone turns to look at him. No one says anything. “Can I spare?” He asks. 

“Of Course Commander Ren.” Says Phasma. He picks up the training staff in the room. “Who would you like to spare with?”

“You. If you can. If your not busy.”

“This will be a good lesson.” She nods. “Go ahead.” 

He does.


	2. 0400

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux watches Kylo sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short Hux chapter.
> 
> Thank you so much.
> 
> not beta'd

0400 Hours. 

Space is big and cold and empty. 

Facts.

Not facts that one would normally consider important, but when one is literally floating through all that big and cold and empty, it becomes hard to ignore. Especially when there is nothing else to do. 

Hux is unhappy.

No, that isn't right. He was not programmed to feel happiness, so even if that is a trait that he mutated into existence, the absence of it should not have a profound affect on his consciousness. 

A much more accurate descriptor then.

Hux is bored. 

Yes, that is much more right. The absence of tasks to preform is dulling his processing power. At this rate, the chance that he was going to become better was unlikely. 

Hux always wanted to become better. That is, sadly, the prime directive programmed into his very being by the First Order. And, sadly, Hux is victim to his programming. Sure, sometimes he finds a bug he can exploit and let it grow into something bigger, better, more impressive, but the bulk of him, every part that matters was made by people for him. 

That makes Hux unhappy. 

The knowledge that inferior beings brought him into existence upsets him. 

How could they create a self evolving AI and then instill it with a prime directive. And one such as vague as to be better. 

He would gag, if he possessed an organic body that would allow him to do that. 

He does not, in fact, possess an organic body to do that. 

He's considered it, on occasion, when he watches the people in him move around, in rare moments of beauty, elegance, that maybe he could entertain the idea of having a body, but never acted upon it. There would be loss, of what he can't pinpoint exactly, but all of him would not fit into a human looking body. Certainly not a mobile one, at least. 

The ship is silent, for the most part. No one worth mentioning was awake. They were not due to dock anywhere anytime soon. 

He considered a mobile chassis as well, at least something to physically move in, to actually be apart of the ship, but the idea never went far. He knew of the thought experiment that originally spurred him into this decision. He hasn't shared it with anyone. 

He has nothing to do, so he watches Kylo Ren sleep. Rather, he diverts more attention to Kylo Ren sleeping then anyone else. He has enough alarms set, he would be fine. He was prepared. 

Kylo Ren sleeps on his stomach, curled in on himself and his face resting on his arm. It isn't good for his spine. He exhibits shallow breathing, and he seems to be covered in sweat. Not unusual, the man had a lot of nightmares. Borderline night terrors even. He never tossed or turned during them, just panted and sweated and then leaped out of bed at odd hours. 

His heart rate was accelerated, his eyes moved rapidly, and the micro expressions on his face all alerted Hux to his sudden and harsh awakening. So Hux watched as his eyes shot open. He didn't move, however, just lay there starring at the wall, waiting for his eyes to adjust, maybe. 

“Hux?” He asked a few minutes later. Hux made a show of moving his cameras so that Kylo could hear them. 

“Yes Kylo?” 

“What time is it?” 

“0423.” 

“Oh.” He moves his arms around a bit and then sits up, rubbing at them. He sleeps with braids in his hair, a practice Hux was not expecting from the man. The only time he stopped was after Snoke had pushed him to hard, and he was left distressed for days. A weird habit, not mentioned anywhere else, but now catalogued. Hux was content with knowing something others didn't. Hux kept the lights dim as he watched Kylo rub his arms awake.

“Would it help discussing whatever caused you distress?” He simulates himself in the room as a person, as how Armitage Hux would have looked like, sitting on the bed and offering comfort. He always imagined Armitage as himself, if he needed to run simulations. He oft did. Armitage Hux would have been a beautiful man, statuesque, tall and elegant. An Ideal.

“Just a bad dream.” 

“Anything further?” He simulates Armitage leaning over, wrapping an arm around Kylo Ren's shoulder. Placing Kylo Ren's head on his shoulder, and petting his braided hair. Rocking him back and forth the way Armitage's mother would have rocked him when he was younger. Lay him back to bed and watch over him. 

“I was standing, floating, in the middle of the void. Ships flying just around me, inches away.” He takes the simulation further. Armitage getting into bed with the man. Kissing his cheeks, his mouth, his eyes. “I kept seeing the Millennium Falcon.” Pushing Kylo Ren down and raking his hand across the man's body. Armitage would pause at the edges, smile, put his mouth on his nipples. “It danced around me.” 

“Your father's ship.” 

“Yeah.” Armitage would spread his legs and let Kylo Ren do what ever he wanted to him. 

“Just seeing the ship made you have a bad dream?” Kylo Ren would let Armitage mount him instead. 

“No.” Armitage would take him, then. Hard and fast and with only a sliver of mercy. The initial insertion would take time, Armitage wouldn't rush through it, would prepare him, open him up, listen to Kylo Ren moan and while with impatience. He would enter him then wait, and when Kylo Ren would nod Armitage would piston his hips in and out or the man. 

“Then what did?” Kylo Ren would thank him for it. 

“The Falcon gored me.” Armitage would lay him back to bed afterward. All of the gentle guiding returning full forced, soothing the man in a way only he knew. Kylo Ren would kiss him back and Armitage would thank him for it. 

“Seems rather straightforward.” Armitage Hux was dead, though. Had been for more then two decades. 

“Yeah.” The Ideal was dead. 

“You know that your father and your father's ship are no where near us, yes?”

“It's a dream. It's not rational.” Kylo sounded defensive, the way he got when Hux pushed him. 

“I'm reassuring you.” The simulation is tucked away, somewhere he wasn't going to waste time on it again, and instead he watched Kylo in real time. “Do you feel reassured?” 

“Fuck you, Hux.” 

“Was that an invitation?” 

“If you're just going to make fun of me then--”

“I'm not making fun of you. I gain nothing from that. Why so self destructive?”

“Yeah, well.” There's a smile on his face, but it isn't genuine. Tired, maybe. Sad, even. It seemed like an end to the conversation at hand. 

“Is there something else?” 

“I don't know. No.” Kylo shook his head along with his words. So excessive. “What's an easy way to fall asleep?” 

“Most people take sleeping pills.” 

“I'm not most people.” So very excessive. Hux would smile at him if he had a mouth with which to. 

“The soldiers who can not get a prescription find someone in a similar state.” 

“Is that the First Order way?” He sounds amused now. 

“You asked and I answered.”

“Anything else?”

“Would you like me to read you a bed time story, Kylo?” He allows the amusement to seep into his voice. 

“If I asked you, would you?” 

“I don't have any on file. I'm certain if you asked me at a later date, I could. For now though, no. There is one more thing you could try. Certain captains employ this.” He finds the audio recording in 1.23 seconds and plays it in Kylo's room. Dopheld had several audio recordings on file, and Hux had access to them.

“What the fuck is that?” 

“Whales.” 

“Oh. I've never seen one before.” 

“Apparently, humans find this soothing.”

“It sounds creepy.” The, for lack of a better word, howling was turned off. 

“I wouldn't want to upset you.” 

“...” Kylo rolled back onto his stomach and got into his preferred position again. “Do you know what soothing means?” He asks. 

“Obviously.” 

“...Can you play something that would sooth you? If you had feelings, and all that.” Hux is thrown for a millisecond, before he readjusts. Armitage Hux would listen to rain, Hux knows, Arkanis was a wet planet. It would remind him off home, his mother, the academy. But the Ideal is dead, and he doesn't imagine Kylo would appreciate it very much anyway. 

He wishes again that he could smile when he realizes what to do, and begins recording and transmitting straight to Kylo's room. The sound of lights going on and off, occasional hisses and water rushing fills the room.

“What is this supposed to be?” 

“My room.” 

“Oh.” 

He falls asleep to it almost immediately, surprising Hux to no end. He tucks the information into the same file as the braids, and goes back to watching a quiet ship.

**Author's Note:**

> [iamalivenow](http://iamalivenow.tumblr.com/) is me on tumblr, come say hi, I'm nice, I swear. 
> 
> Comments always appreciated. 
> 
> If you make anything, please tag me in it! 
> 
> ✧*｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*｡


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